1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to athletic shoes, in particular, a shoe that promotes the natural motion of the user's foot, thus providing movement efficiency and comfort for the user. This motion is achieved by a sole member that is comprised of individual pieces connected to each other, allowing a more natural motion of the foot.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shoes are designed for many purposes—from protection on the job, to performance during athletic activity, to everyday use. Increasingly, shoes have been designed to promote a more natural walking motion. Prior art shoes attempt to mimic barefoot movement by having specialized midsoles with a plurality of incisions or sipes, minimalist midsoles, outsole pads, etc.
Prior art shoes are generally comprised of sole members that have grooves and are made of materials that allow them to have a certain flexibility and thus articulation. In order for the sole members to have articulation, they generally have a plurality of sipes or incisions throughout the sole member. The incisions generally occur from the very bottom of the sole member to a point close to the top of the sole member. These sipes or incisions allow the sole member to flex.
However, all of these prior art shoes are only primarily flexible in a single direction. When one picks up a prior art shoe and holds the shoe with one hand on the bottom of the heel area and the other hand on the bottom of the forefoot area and pushes both ends upwardly and then towards each other, the shoe easily flexes in a downward projection, so that the upper surface is concave. This flexure is easily attained and both ends of the shoe may even touch. The gaps and/or sipes/incisions on the sole of the shoe will be exposed when this is done. Accordingly, the direction of the flexibility of the shoe is determined. The human foot however does not only move in that one direction, but also in the opposite direction. If one attempts to rotate the heel area downwardly and rotate the forefoot area downwardly, the shoe bends slightly, but has significant resistance to flexing in a downwardly concave direction. The prior art shoes are not designed for two way flexibility, but rather they are constructed in a manner that the flexure is made to occur in a single direction. Also, none of the prior art shoes allow for torsional flexibility.
The present invention aims to provide a way of assisting with and moving along with the natural motion of the user's foot, thus providing comfort and movement efficiency for the user. This motion is achieved by a unique sole member that is comprised of individual pieces connected by specifically placed connectors.